ART & ARTISTS: Mihály Biró

Friday 4 October 2024

Mihály Biró - part 2

Biró was born in Budapest and studied art in Berlin, Paris and London before returning to Hungary to begin his professional career. He was a prominent young designer and took an active role in the Socialist revolutionary movement in 1918, designing several powerful and unforgettable images. When the conservatives came to power Biró fled to Vienna, where he continued to design posters for the Social Democratic Party, but also involved himself more in commercial projects. In 1928 he moved to Berlin, where he designed movie posters for the UFA. Biro essentially used the same system for every poster he designed: an oversized central figure and a lot of red, which is exactly how he advertises this film about the white slave trade.

For more information about Biró, and for earlier works, see part 1 also.

This is part 2 of a 2-part post on the works of Mihály Biró.

1919 Vörös Parlamentet! Szavazzatok Socialdemokratára
(Red Parliament! Vote for Social Democrats)
126 x 95 cm

1920 Das Christentum Nicht Gemeint
(Christianity not meant)
67.2 x 93.7 cm

1920 Kehrt aus! Wählt Sozialdemokratisch
(Come out! Vote Social Democratic)
126 x 95 cm

1920 Wáhlet Sozialdemokratisch
(Vote Social Democratic)
95 x 123 cm

1920 Wählet Sozialdemokratisch
(Vote Social Democratic)
96 x 122 cm

1920 Wählt Sozialdemokratisch

In 1920, Biró became the main artist for the Austrian Social Democratic Party, and directed the graphic design of the party's propaganda. Its messaging was pointed and furious. Striding from the Cathedral, a 19th-century robber baron (in tuxedo and top hat) links arms with a priest, a medal-bedecked general, and a 20th-century capitalist (cigar, spats, riding crop) as a gaunt woman in rags, guiding a blind WWI vet, points accusingly. "Here are those you should blame! Choose Social-Democratic." This is a two-sheet poster.

1920 Wählt Sozialdemokratisch
(Vote Social Democratic)
94.3 x 124.2 cm

1920 Wählt Sozialdemokratisch
(Vote Social Democratic)
123 x 95 cm

c1920 Gyüjysünl Székeley Mihály Repülögépere!
(Mihály Gyüjysünl Székeley's Aeroplane)
95 x 63 cm

1921 Arko Liqueurs
188 x 125 cm

1921 Samurun Dey Wunderfilm
(translation not found)

1922 Meinl Kaffe-Import
(Meinl Coffee-Import)
126 x 30

1922 Vote for the Social Democrats!
63 x 95 cm

c1922 Hage Kernseife Toilette-Rasierseife
(Toilet Soap / Shaving Soap)
125.7 x 94.7 cm

1923 Arko Liqueurs
188 x 125 cm

1923 Axa Abadie
(cigarette rolling papers)
62 x 95 cm

1923 Belko
125 x 95 cm

1923 Vienna International Spring Fair
126 x 95 cm

1924 Abadie cigarette rolling papers
85 x 54 cm

1924 Abadie cigarette rolling papers
125 x 94 cm

1924 Axa Abadie rolling papers
125 x 95 cm

c1924 MEM Seifen
(Soap)
136 x 95 cm

1924 Humanic Schuhfabrik
(Humanic Shoe Factory)

1925 Fzek Fighting Stunts and Matches
(details not given)

1925 Grande Rivista di Moda e di Danza Vienese
Grand Rivista of Fashion and Dance Viennese
95 x 127 cm

c1925 Abadie cigarette rolling papers
248.2 x 95.8 cm

c1925 De Telegraaf
126 x 95 cm

c1925 Internationaler Frauentag
(International Women's Day)
94 x 72.5

1926 Die Bucht des Todes

Following his work for the Democratic Socialist Party, Biró turned to commercial work. This extraordinary two-sheet lithograph of a parent in extremis was used to promote the Austrian premiere of the 1926 Soviet silent film "The Bay of Death," directed by Abram Room. The film's plot revolves around a Bolshevik machinist aboard a warship who is captured by Tsarist soldiers, and use the machinist's imprisonment to threaten his sons. Historians have noted that the film was poorly received by Soviet authorities, and suppressed it due to its "overly complex themes."